Common colon cancer screen may be more effective for men than women

New research indicates that sigmoidoscopy, an alternative to colonoscopy may be more effective for men than women.  Flexible sigmoidoscopy does not usually involve sedation and involves only about 1/3 of the colon, compared to colonoscopy. According to a study conducted on almost 99,000 Norwegians aged 50-64, man undergoing sigmoidoscopy rad a 34% lower risk of colon cancer and 37% lower risk of death after 17 years, "however women saw little reduction in their colon cancer risk or death rates compared to women who weren't screened."

To read more about this study, click here. 

Positioning during cancer radiation may be key to heart risks

New research has shown that patients with lung or throat cancer can increasing effectiveness of radiotherapy due to positioning of treatment.  According to Dr. Corinne Johnson, PhD student at Manchester Cancer Research Center in England, "even very small [positioning] errors can have a major impact on patients' survival chances, particularly when tumors are close to a vital organ like the heart.

To read more about this study, click here.

New drugs may help boost survival for lung cancer patients

2 new studies indicate that immunotherapy drugs, namely Keytruda (pembrolizumab), Opdivo (nivolumab), and Yervoy (ipilimumab) may increase survival rates for patients with lung cancer.  Results showed that Keytruda togetehr with chemotherapy lessened a patients change of dying within 11 months by more than 50% compared to chemotherapy treatment alone, while Opdivo and Yervoy saw a 42% less likely death rate.  According to the authors of the studies, the findings "offer an encouraging note in an effort to improve the odds against what is the leading cause of cancer-related death."

To read more about this study, click here. 

Blood pressure medication tied to pancreatic cancer risk in women

New research indicates that some drugs prescribed to treat high blood pressure, namely calcium channel blockers (CCB) lead to an increased risk of developing pancreatic cancer in women.  According to study lead author Zhensheng Wang, "the short-acting CCBs were the only blood pressure drugs linked to higher pancreatic cancer risk."  Despite these findings, the research suggests that the absolute risk of developing pancreatic cancer after taking CCBs remains very low, about 1.6%.

To read more about this study, click here.

Belly fat tied to lower kidney cancer survival odds in women

A new study conducted at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis has found that belly fat reduces survival rate for women after being diagnosed with kidney cancer.  However, the same correlation could not be found in men. 

According to study senior author Dr. Joseph Ippolito, "a tumor growing in a man's body is in a different environment than one growing inside a women, so it's not surprising that the cancers behave differently between the sexes."

To read more about this study, click here.

New trial alert: re-setting the breast microbiome to lower inflammation and risk of cancer

A new trial taking place at St. Joseph's Hospital in London, Ontario is currently recruiting patients to trial introducing RepHresh Pro-B, a probiotic natural health product to lower inflammation and risk of cancer.  Women at high risk of developing breast cancer over the course of their lifetime who have not yet been diagnosed with the disease are eligible.  According to the principle investigators, the goal of the trial is to "test [the] theory that taking probiotic lactobacilli by mouth can lead to these organisms reaching the breast tissue and help...reduce inflammation which has close links to cancer."

To read more about this trial, click here. 

NIH completes in-depth genomic analysis of 33 cancer types

Researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health have completed a detailed genomic analysis, known as the PanCancer Atlas, on a data set of molecular and clinical information from over 10,000 tumors representing 33 types of cancer. The PanCancer Atlas, published as a collection of 27 papers across a suite of Cell journals, sums up the work accomplished by The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) – a multi-institution collaboration initiated and supported by the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) and the National Cancer Institute (NCI), both part of NIH. The program, with over $300 million in total funding, involved upwards of 150 researchers at more than two dozen institutions across North America.

To read more about this study, click here.

Cancer immunotherapy drug simultaneously targets two proteins that block immune response

Two groups of researchers, working independently, have developed a type of drug that simultaneously targets two proteins involved in suppressing the body’s immune response against tumors to try to develop more effective immunotherapies. A growing number of patients with cancer have benefited from drugs that help the immune system fight cancer, such as immune checkpoint inhibitors. But most patients with cancers do not respond to these treatments.

To read more about this study, click here.